NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - #14

[jaejae]

I will give Maura's case a bump again as it seems very cold to me again but still pretty hot in the True Crime Podcast World as such and here is a clip from CrimeCon2019 with people discussing the case:

 

[tigerteeth]

Just rambling.

This case drives me nuts every day. More than any other case. I know it’s not super likely, but I really, really hope she is alive and well somewhere. That she was too afraid of all the trouble she was getting into. That she’s not an alcoholic or even schizophrenic (a psychoanalyst briefly mentioned this on a podcast when talking about her catatonic state at work that one night, but then determined it didn’t sound like legit Catatonia - an FBI investigator mentioned this possibility as well on the MMM Podcast.).
I have recently come across a couple of different articles about young people starting new lives while their families think they are missing. Even in this country. I know sometimes people get bent out of shape when talking about alternate possibilities, but if it were like a lot of other cases, it would have been solved by now.

On the other hand, a young mother just died of hypothermia in the white mountains, and someone else was rescued in the fetal position, and it’s June. It seems dying of the elements would not be that hard.
Hiker in White Mountains dies after suffering heart attack

I think, like in many cases, she could very well have walked farther along the road than searchers searched, and that is why there were apparently no snow footprints. I wonder how well the area was searched back then. I saw a YouTube video where someone showed pictures or video of the area, and there are private property signs posted everywhere.

The non permitted slab of concrete in the A Frame house yard sounds odd. The family that owned that house for a bit after this case were on the MMM Podcast as well. Very interesting stuff in that one.
I can’t recall if that was searched under or in, but it doesn’t sound like it.

Other than the guy who owned the house back then/the guy whose brother thinks he did it who gave FM the knife, it doesn’t seem like there would have been much opportunity for a random killer with the little traffic. Plus everyone probably knows everyone there.

The red truck with Massachusetts plates I think Witness A mentioned (again, podcast) is interesting, but certainly not uncommon for Mass plates in Nh or Me at all. The cop stuff from that podcast was also extremely odd.

I really hope we have an answer to this some day.

 

[sony12]

The non permitted slab of concrete in the A Frame house yard sounds odd. The family that owned that house for a bit after this case were on the MMM Podcast as well. Very interesting stuff in that one.
I can’t recall if that was searched under or in, but it doesn’t sound like it.

Other than the guy who owned the house back then/the guy whose brother thinks he did it who gave FM the knife, it doesn’t seem like there would have been much opportunity for a random killer with the little traffic. Plus everyone probably knows everyone there.

The red truck with Massachusetts plates I think Witness A mentioned (again, podcast) is interesting, but certainly not uncommon for Mass plates in Nh or Me at all. The cop stuff from that podcast was also extremely odd.

I really hope we have an answer to this some day.

THe A-Frame house is pretty much ruled out at this point as having anything to do with the case. Though it has received a lot of publicity over the years the reason why it got involved in the case to start with was due to one of Fred Murray's unfounded rumors he was chasing around.

 

[minazoe]

sometimes the simplest answer is the best answer. someone should look under that slab.
how can it be that no one has investigated this? ( or was it ?)

I always thought she cracked up the car and a creepy neighbor came out and asked her if she needed help. I always thought she voluntarily went to a house to sober up or call her father ... something like this, if she had been drinking and stunned she may have accepted help.

wonder if the snow was blowing around...no real footprints or anything..maybe she went a short way down the road.

I think she was restrained from leaving and was killed and disposed of by a predator whose web she just happened to drop into.

I feel her body is close by by as the killer would not have had the guts to try to move it with all the hubbub.

a crime of opportunity.

I do feel she had a weird life and some real problems that made her vulnerable..

Like millions of young women she was struggling with alcohol issues, crappy relationships and some very bad decisions, like petty credit card fraud. Sometimes people having these kinds of troubles have poor boundaries too.

Alcohol can bring down your defenses and cause you to make bad decisions and maybe to trust someone you shouldn't.

in short; recipe for disaster. mOO

 

[minazoe]

deleted duplicate

 

[minazoe]

also I wondered if someone did come to help her, someone she knew..and that person became angry for some reason other and actually killed her.

wasn't there a rag in the tailpipe that wasn't really in there enough to facilitate suicide? ( I may not remember correctly here). But points to possible suicidal behavior, something very easy to accomplish with staging.

it seems like there could have been a known factor because there is a time lapse where there is no information or witness..could it have been hours?

the only reason I say this is something was totally going on with Maura.
could someone she knows have murdered her? I never really thought about this...

mOO

 

[tigerteeth]

also I wondered if someone did come to help her, someone she knew..and that person became angry for some reason other and actually killed her.

wasn't there a rag in the tailpipe that wasn't really in there enough to facilitate suicide? ( I may not remember correctly here). But points to possible suicidal behavior, something very easy to accomplish with staging.

it seems like there could have been a known factor because there is a time lapse where there is no information or witness..could it have been hours?

the only reason I say this is something was totally going on with Maura.
could someone she knows have murdered her? I never really thought about this...

mOO

I’ve heard there was a rag in the tailpipe but when tested it would fly out pretty early on, so she may have stuffed it in after she stopped or secured it in some way we don’t know. Her little brother did mention he remembers her doing this/their dad telling her to to try to hide smoke for a bit.
True, her behavior was pretty worrisome.
I feel if she either hadn’t tried to call 911 yet when BA offered to call for her or if she didn’t realize how stuck she was when he talked to her (or if she didn’t trust him as much as the next person) she could have after realized she had no reception/how stuck she was and then trusted someone else who came along, realizing there was no real way out without getting help. It’s really too bad there wasn’t a different outcome.

 

[Chad_York]

What's important to note is the reasoning behind Maura's trip and the fact she disappeared from the accident site rather quickly. Maura invested money into this trip. She had everything to be gained and/or lost. The accident set in stone a possible turn of events. If she is confronted by law enforcement, the credit card fraud charge goes on her record and possible expulsion from the nursing program. Within a 36 hour period, she gets into two accidents. One might argue that it could have been influenced by not having to file another insurance claim but you could also argue that she had every intention of trying to quickly resolve the situation by calling a tow. Was Maura aware she would have no reception? Did she convince herself that everything would work out? Did the impact of the accident cause her to have a lapse in judgement? We simply do not know, nor will we ever. Though, in the events that have transpired, something bad happened. In an attempt to avoid law enforcement, she puts her trust with a stranger, who may not have been transient and encountered a tragic fate. Her trip had to have been for a reason and the events prior to February 9th 2004, seem to indicate that something was on Maura's mind. Her phone call with her sister Kathleen, the late night party prior to the first accident in Hadley, Massachusetts. She felt obligated to return her father's car but under what circumstances? The events that unfolded, along with other personal matters, have to be stressors for Maura. Everything about her disappearance can be analyzed through different angles, but one thing is clear, she decided to leave and used a death in the family card for her reason for her absence. Why would someone use this if it wasn't to garner sympathy? What was Maura hiding?

 

[sony12]

Why would someone use this if it wasn't to garner sympathy? What was Maura hiding?

Just a quick excuse that she likely thought of at the moment. She wanted to get away from school for a while and needed a good excuse to give to her teachers. Voolaa. Family member died. Sure she may have been trying to get people to feel sorry for her but chances are likely far better she was just using it as a reason to miss a few days of classes and the purpose of it doesn't go any deeper than that. Colleges don't keep track of the students the way highschools do so they wouldn't have bothered to try to call her mom or dad to make sure she was telling the truth. They simply would have marked her down as being in class or not being in class.

 

[Chad_York]

Just a quick excuse that she likely thought of at the moment. She wanted to get away from school for a while and needed a good excuse to give to her teachers. Voolaa. Family member died. Sure she may have been trying to get people to feel sorry for her but chances are likely far better she was just using it as a reason to miss a few days of classes and the purpose of it doesn't go any deeper than that. Colleges don't keep track of the students the way highschools do so they wouldn't have bothered to try to call her mom or dad to make sure she was telling the truth. They simply would have marked her down as being in class or not being in class.

It wasn’t necessary to use since college professors don’t usually keep track of attendance. You could provide the courtesy of a notice in case you wanted to acquire the missed assignments but not for a death in the family. Keep it simple and say, I will absent for the week due to a personal matter. While this is an unusual tactic, it does stop the trail cold of curiosity. Who would question a death in the family? Perhaps the underlying mystery behind that speaks volume to reason for her trip? This trip had to have been for a reason.

 

[rob525]

Didn't she do part time work at the university? Maybe she neede a more in depth excuse to miss her shifts? Particularly if other students would have wanted that job.

 

[Chad_York]

Didn't she do part time work at the university? Maybe she neede a more in depth excuse to miss her shifts? Particularly if other students would have wanted that job.

Just to miss a security job at the Melville Dorm? That seems completely unwarranted. I don't understand why Maura would conjure an excuse of a family tragedy in order to miss that kind of job? If it was a nursing job, I could understand but for a temporary job? No. I don't see that.

I found this forum post wherein a user under the name Murray suggested that Maura was on a Scholarship and needed a legitimate reason to miss her classes. While I can't verify the veracity of this post, that would be the only reason I believe Maura would use that excuse. Otherwise, why resort to it?

 

[sony12]

@Chad_York people saying their was a death in the family isn't exactly an uncommon excuse people use when they want to play hookie or get out of something. Now if she was a little more specific like her saying her mom or her sister died than that would be a little more interesting. But just a very generic comment like a death in the family (which could imply someone's second cousin that they have only seen two times in their life) isn't much more noteworthy than them calling into work acting like they are sick because they want the day off.

Unless she indeed was planning on killing herself and this was her way of hinting to it than I don't think the excuse should be looked into all that much.

 

[Chad_York]

@Chad_York people saying their was a death in the family isn't exactly an uncommon excuse people use when they want to play hookie or get out of something. Now if she was a little more specific like her saying her mom or her sister died than that would be a little more interesting. But just a very generic comment like a death in the family (which could imply someone's second cousin that they have only seen two times in their life) isn't much more noteworthy than them calling into work acting like they are sick because they want the day off.

Unless she indeed was planning on killing herself and this was her way of hinting to it than I don't think the excuse should be looked into all that much.

Though how does that stop the line of inquiry? People ask questions, the propensity to sympathize is then clouded in mystery. What exactly was bothering Maura? Why would someone use this if it wasn't for the means of garnering support? It's as if you're tacitly admitting you want help. Maura is a smart woman and I find it peculiar that she would resort to such a drastic measure, that surely would attract concern but it was within her objective not to draw attention as she takes a trip without informing anyone of it. So, that's where the mystery lies. To attract attention by no attracting attention. It doesn't compute.

 

[annemc2]

Just a quick excuse that she likely thought of at the moment. She wanted to get away from school for a while and needed a good excuse to give to her teachers. Voolaa. Family member died. Sure she may have been trying to get people to feel sorry for her but chances are likely far better she was just using it as a reason to miss a few days of classes and the purpose of it doesn't go any deeper than that. Colleges don't keep track of the students the way highschools do so they wouldn't have bothered to try to call her mom or dad to make sure she was telling the truth. They simply would have marked her down as being in class or not being in class.

I'm sure it's been discussed before but missing a nursing clinical is a huuuuge deal. There are usually only 8-10 students with an instructor and you can *maybe* miss one without failing the clinical portion and having to retake the entire class. This sort of thing would get you off track and behind in the entire program.

 

[sony12]

I'm sure it's been discussed before but missing a nursing clinical is a huuuuge deal. There are usually only 8-10 students with an instructor and you can *maybe* miss one without failing the clinical portion and having to retake the entire class. This sort of thing would get you off track and behind in the entire program.

Maybe she was giving up on nursing school then. She had already left one school already so it wouldn't be surprising if she was deciding that nursing school wasn't for her either.

 

[Chad_York]

Maybe she was giving up on nursing school then. She had already left one school already so it wouldn't be surprising if she was deciding that nursing school wasn't for her either.

Why would she bring her course books with her if she was giving up on nursing school or even submit her assignments by 3:00 a.m. of the day she disappeared? It seemed she planned on returning at some point - as her friend Erin mentioned, perhaps she needed a break?

 

[sony12]

Breaks are what weekends are for. There are also students though who tend to skip out on classes a lot though. This very well may not have been the first time she had done this. Maura may not have been the most responsible person when it came to school. Has there been any info that has stated how good of student she was? And not just what friends and/or family members said after the fact. I'm talking about official grades and attendance records.

 

[rob525]

Just to miss a security job at the Melville Dorm? That seems completely unwarranted. I don't understand why Maura would conjure an excuse of a family tragedy in order to miss that kind of job? If it was a nursing job, I could understand but for a temporary job? No. I don't see that.

I found this forum post wherein a user under the name Murray suggested that Maura was on a Scholarship and needed a legitimate reason to miss her classes. While I can't verify the veracity of this post, that would be the only reason I believe Maura would use that excuse. Otherwise, why resort to it?

I don't know Maura's situation but while that job may not seem important to you, maybe it was not one that she could easily afford to lose. Whether she had expenses at school ( or extra curricular) that depended on the little bit of money that she made or she was hoping to use that money to help her out of the issues that she had pending, who knows? I don't see the family death excuse as that epic. People use it all of the time. And I don't see her as being overly principled ( she was accused of stealing and driving drunk) is it such a reach that she would come up with an excuse to miss a job and school that some would find apalling?

 

[WolfDen]

Why would she bring her course books with her if she was giving up on nursing school or even submit her assignments by 3:00 a.m. of the day she disappeared? It seemed she planned on returning at some point - as her friend Erin mentioned, perhaps she needed a break?

How do you know MM was bringing her books with her? Maybe they were just in the car when she left?